…..to do well what I have never done, what I never intended to do…..

A Different Day……

I think I can now say that it has finally sunk in. Not that it hadn’t sunken it at all before, and not that I won’t feel the weight of it tomorrow. But I have definitely settled in a bit. Time is definitely a factor in this healing equation. This new, different life is going to happen whether I’m ready or not.

It has been over 6 months since Andrew passed away, and I find I’m shaking my head less often. My shock and disbelief have settled into a seat that’s a little further back on my mental train, and I’m left to ride on, looking forward through a glass that is slightly less foggy. People have gone back to their own seats and now look toward their own destinations.

So here we are, starting a new year. Black Friday started on Thursday, Cyber Monday started on Sunday, Christmas came and went, and we did it. We made it. We got our tree, gave our gifts, saw a couple friends and some family, and began this “new normal.” It was different, but it was OK. It was all right. Next year we’ll do it all over again.

I imagine that 2016 will be just as much of a surprise as 2015 was. I think after you live through horrible things you learn to change your expectations. I’m less surprised at everything that happens; I guess I’m somewhat desensitized. I get less ruffled when things glitch. It’s all relative. Don’t get me wrong, there are days when one little thing happens, and it makes me feel like I’ve hit rock bottom.

In the past four years, in addition to “regular” life surprises, my dad passed away, my mom gave in to Alzheimer’s, Andrew and I retired from jobs, Hope started college and we moved. Then Andrew passed away……and Grace had to start back to school without him. How much can one family withstand? The answer is “a lot.” And a lot of people withstand a lot of stuff. We all become different people as we experience these “different days” and survive everything that happens to us. I have to say that I look at people, and life in general, a lot differently than I used to.

A friend said to me, “Life is just one tragedy after another.” I agree. It’s true. But I have to add that life is also one joy after another. I can’t help but laugh at some of the bright, quirky things my girls say or do, and I can’t help getting a kick out of hearing a friend burst out laughing on her end of the phone…..

You never know what will hit you next.

So I’m glad it will be 2016. It’s not that I expect it to be a better year; I’m just more aware that anything can happen at any time. That’s not such a bad lesson to learn. Also, I’m glad that 2015 is over. (Plus, 2016 is an even number. I like even numbers, I don’t know why. I always feel a little better on the first day of an even numbered year. Crazy.)

The future is a mystery. Many things are mysteries, and there will be more surprises, I know. Who would ever have thought that I’d be frosting cookies in a local bakery…that I’d have the voice students I have now….that I’d have an Etsy store…?

There is one thing that I haven’t mentioned yet…..hope. Some may call it faith, maybe some call it optimism. What ever it is, there must be a little of it left in me or I wouldn’t be able to wake up tomorrow…..

Have I said yet that I am grateful? I think I am more grateful now than I have been my entire life.

Tomorrow will be a different day. I’ll probably see things differently than I did today. And who knows what I will come to think and feel next year?

My life moves ahead. Yours does, too. None of us know what’s out there in the distance. I hope we can all relax, take our time, travel along with the surprises and be grateful for what we have.
Addendum to A Different Day

I actually wrote this piece several weeks ago, but when the day came that I had scheduled to post it I couldn’t post it. It seemed too positive. It seemed much too optimistic and “got it together” to post. Things weren’t going really well, and I didn’t feel I was handling the glitches very well.

I tried waiting until I felt like I was living up to what I wrote. I waited some more. And today I realized that if I wait until I feel I’m worthy I’ll never post anything! I realize that it’s OK if, in my own mind, I don’t always live up to what I write.

Tomorrow will be a different day again, and I’ll probably feel differently about many things. At least I hope I do….and I’ll have another chance.